Texas leader Gene Wu sounds alarm on rising Asian hate

Speaking to a crowd of 400 at Chinese for Affirmative Action’s Celebration of Justice in San Francisco, Rep. Gene Wu warned that Asian Americans face rising racism and discrimination — and that staying quiet is no protection. “Being silent, being invisible is no longer and has never been a shield,” he said. “Our community does not even know that it is under attack.”

He pointed to the Alien Land Laws now on the books in dozens of states — bans on property ownership by some non-citizen immigrants. Wu led the fight that defeated Texas’s version in 2023; a narrower bill passed two years later. “Two-thirds of our country has banned our people … from making a home in their state,” he said, adding that a “rapid, meteoric rise” in anti-Indian hate is part of the same pattern.

Wu — who has himself faced false “Chinese spy” accusations and calls to be deported — urged Asian Americans to lead rather than wait for allies, warning that the rhetoric aimed at Asians today echoes the language once used to justify the WWII incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans.

They will not fight with us if we are not out front holding our own flag.